The present invention relates to an infant changing station. More particularly, it relates to an infant changing station that can be mounted to a counter-top.
Parents of babies and infants not yet toilet trained often face a dilemma when visiting a public establishment, such as a restaurant, retail store, health club, etc. Namely, the child will soil his or her diaper, and require changing. Unfortunately, many rest rooms are not designed to facilitate easy changing of the infant's diaper. Changing of a diaper normally requires a generally flat surface on which to lay the baby or infant, removing the diaper, cleaning the child and placing a new diaper on the child. This is often done on a counter-top within the restroom.
Using a counter-top to change a soiled diaper provides a number of safety and health concerns, some of which are discussed below. First, counter-tops are essentially flat and often have at least one edge that opens to the floor. Thus, an inherent danger exists in that the baby may roll or fall off the open unprotected edges. Second, the opportunity for unintentional contamination or dirtying of the counter-top is quite prevalent. While a restroom operator can periodically clean the counter-top, some subsequent users of the counter-top will likely be exposed to unsanitary conditions. This is particularly true since typically no specific diaper changing area is designated, and thus the subsequent users of the counter-top cannot intentionally avoid the contaminated areas.
These problems have been partially addressed with the advent of wall-mounted infant changing stations. Wall-mounted changing stations are attached to a wall in the facility's rest room. To this end, a standard wall-mounted infant changing station includes a frame to which a bed is pivotably attached. More particularly, the standard wall-mounted changing station further includes a hinge means attaching the bed to the frame in conjunction with a support system. When not in use, the bed folds tightly against the frame, thereby limiting space requirements. To use the station, the user simply pivots the bed away from the frame, providing a flat table for changing diapers. The support system supports and maintains the bed relative to the frame in the open position.
For some applications, however, wall-mounted changing stations may not be economically feasible or otherwise undesirable. This may be particularly true for facilities that already have adequate counter space to accommodate a diaper changing area. For these applications, there is a need for a counter-top mounted infant changing station.